FAQs: Managing Help Center Users | Zoho Desk

FAQs: Managing Help Center Users

User Access and Registration

Who is considered a Help Center user?
A Help Center user is a customer or end user who accesses the Help Center to search the Knowledge Base, participate in the community, submit tickets, or review ticket activity. Registered users can also maintain a profile and keep support interactions from additional channels, such as Facebook or Twitter, associated with their Help Center account.

Registration is particularly useful when customers need to track tickets, revisit recent Help Center activity in My Area
, or submit future tickets without repeatedly entering their email address.
Can visitors use the Help Center without creating an account?
Yes, if the Help Center is configured for open access. Visitors can search available Knowledge Base and community content, and they may submit tickets.

However, an unsigned-in visitor must sign in to track ticket status. An open Help Center reduces friction for customers seeking answers, but it can also increase the likelihood of irrelevant or spam ticket submissions.
Can registration be required before users can access the Help Center?
Yes. Enable Customers must register to access the Help Center to require visitors to sign in or register before accessing the Help Center.

To enable it:
  1. Go to Setup > Channels > Help Center.
  2. Select the relevant Help Center.
  3. Open Access Settings.
  4. Under Permissions, enable Customers must register to access the Help Center.
The setting takes effect immediately. Customers will be directed to the sign-in or registration page before they can access the Help Center.
Can the Help Center remain public while requiring sign-in for ticket submission?
Yes. Enable Customers must sign in to your Help Center to submit Tickets.

This configuration leaves the Help Center open for visitors to browse available content, while ensuring that a customer authenticates before creating a ticket.

It is useful when the organization wants publicly accessible self-service content but wants ticket requests tied to a known user account.
Can registration be required and sign-in also required only for ticket submission?
No, These are mutually exclusive access approaches.
Configure either:
  1. Registration as a requirement to access the Help Center, or
  2. An open Help Center with sign-in required to submit tickets.
Select the option that aligns with the intended balance between public self-service access and account-controlled support requests.

Managing Signups and Moderation

How can unwanted or suspicious Help Center signups be controlled?
Enable Moderate Customer Sign-ups in the Help Center. With moderation enabled, newly registered users remain pending until they are reviewed and approved.

This is valuable for organizations that permit self-registration but want to reduce spam accounts or inappropriate community activity. Each signup triggers an email notification for review.
How is signup moderation enabled?
  1. Navigate to Setup > Channels > Help Center.
  2. Select the Help Center.
  3. Open Access Settings.
  4. Enable Moderate Customer Sign-ups in the Help Center.
Changes are saved immediately. New registrations can then be reviewed from the notification email or from the pending moderation list.
Where can pending Help Center user signups be approved?
Pending registrations can be approved in either of two ways:
  1. Follow the approval link in the signup notification email.
  2. Go to Setup > Support Channels > Help Center > Users and open the Pending Moderation list.
This allows a designated reviewer to approve only legitimate customer accounts before they gain access.
Who can approve or deny Help Center signups?
A user needs the Approve End User Signups administrative permission to moderate customer registrations. This permission is appropriate for trusted moderators who should review user access but do not necessarily need full administrative control of the Help Center.

For example, a community manager can be granted signup-approval access to screen new participants without receiving broad permissions to modify Help Center configuration.

Inviting and Maintaining Users

Who can invite, re-invite, activate, deactivate, edit, or delete Help Center users?
Users with the End Users administrative permission can perform these actions for Help Center users. This includes managing customer invitations, resending invitations, changing user details, activating or deactivating users, and deleting user records.
The permission should be assigned carefully because it governs customer access to the Help Center.
What is the difference between deactivating and deleting a Help Center user?
Deactivation is the appropriate choice when a customer should no longer access the Help Center but the organization may need to retain their record for administrative continuity. Deletion removes the Help Center user record.

Before deleting a user, confirm whether their access should merely be suspended or whether the user record is no longer required. For example, a former employee of a customer organization may be deactivated when access must stop immediately, while a duplicate or erroneous user record may be a candidate for deletion.
When should an invitation be resent instead of creating a new user?
Re-invite an existing user when their original invitation was missed, expired, or was sent before they were ready to register. This avoids creating duplicate customer identities and helps maintain a consistent support history.

Use a new invitation only when the recipient is genuinely a different person or does not already exist as a Help Center user.

Ticket Visibility for Organization Accounts

Can users see tickets raised by other people in their organization?
Yes, but this requires deliberate configuration. Enable Customers can view tickets of other users in their account in the Help Center access settings.

This setting supports business customers whose employees need shared visibility into support requests. For example, a company’s IT coordinator can review tickets submitted by colleagues and avoid creating duplicate requests for the same issue.
Does enabling shared ticket visibility automatically give every contact access to all company tickets?
No, Shared visibility must also be enabled for each relevant contact under the associated account.

The Help Center-level setting makes shared viewing available, but individual contact settings determine who receives access. This enables selective visibility rather than granting all contacts the same level of access.
How can shared ticket visibility be configured for selected contacts?
Complete both configuration layers:
  1. Enable Help Center access:
    1. Navigate to Setup > Channels > Help Center > Access Settings.
    2. Enable Customers can View Tickets of Other Users in their Account.
  2. Enable visibility for the required contacts:
    1. Navigate to Customers > Accounts.
    2. Select the relevant account.
    3. Open the Contacts subtab.
    4. Select the required contact.
    5. Use More and enable Show Tickets from Other Contacts.
    6. Repeat for each user who should receive shared ticket visibility.
If the setting remains disabled for a contact, that contact cannot view tickets from other contacts in the account.
Can ticket visibility differ between employees and managers in the same customer account?
Yes. Visibility can be configured selectively by contact. This supports cases where only a support manager or designated support coordinators need account-wide ticket awareness, while other employees should see only their own requests.

Role hierarchy also affects visibility: users higher in the role hierarchy can view tickets raised by their subordinates by default, and the highest role can view tickets across the organization.
What happens if Help Center access is not enabled for a customer?
A customer cannot use Help Center-based shared ticket visibility unless Help Center access is enabled. Even if contact-level visibility is configured, customers need Help Center access to view tickets through the Help Center.

Privacy and Help Center Scope

Can tickets from private departments be displayed to Help Center users?
Yes. Enable Display tickets from private departments in the help center in Access Settings when those tickets should be visible to end users.

Leave this setting disabled when private departments are intended solely for internal ticket management and their tickets should not appear in the customer-facing Help Center.
Can customers select a department when submitting a ticket?
If multiple departments are configured, the Help Center can display the department catalog before a customer starts a ticket. Customers select the department first, then create the ticket in that department.

When this option is disabled, customers select their preferred department from within the ticket form instead.
Who can change Help Center access permissions?
Only administrators can modify Help Center permissions. This includes settings for mandatory registration, ticket submission sign-in, community visibility, organization-wide ticket visibility, and visibility of private-department tickets.

This restriction helps ensure that changes affecting customer access and ticket privacy are made under appropriate administrative oversight.
Can administrators access deleted Knowledge Base articles?
Yes. Deleted Knowledge Base articles are kept in the Recycle Bin, and only administrators can access it. This is separate from Help Center user management but is relevant when controlling what information remains available to end users.

Community Access

Can the Community be hidden without removing the Help Center?
Yes. Disable Display Community in the Help Center under Setup > Channels > Help Center > Access Settings.
This is useful when an organization wants to offer Knowledge Base articles and ticket submission but is not prepared to moderate or maintain a customer community.

For example, a new support organization may begin with articles and a ticket form, then enable the Community later after establishing moderation responsibilities and participation guidelines.